Bac Van Phong, no longer a sleeping beauty

Once Bac Van Phong SEZ is set up, Van Phong Bay will have great opportunities to develop its potential.



Van Phong Bay area, including Van Phong Bay, Hon Gom peninsula, the coast in Van Ninh district and Ninh Hoa town, includes Vietnamese territorial waters nearest to the busiest international maritime routes.

Within Van Phong Bay is Dam Mon peninsula, with the area of 3,500 hectares and water depth of 20-27 meters, believed to be an ideal location for an international transshipment port.

In the late 20th century, Van Phong – Dai Lanh area was programmed to develop into a national tourism site. An asphalt road of 18 kilometers long was built, running across the sandy beaches of Hon Gom Peninsula, connecting Dam Mon with National Highway 1 south of Co Ma Pass. It was put into use in September 2002 in a plan to develop tourism.

However, besides the Co Ma – Dam Mon road, no other considerable changes were made. There were only out-of-the-way fishing villages Dam Mon, Khai Luong and Diep Son. Van Phong was called the ‘sleepy beauty’.

Under the plan approved by PM Nguyen Xuan Phuc in August 2017, Bac Van Phong will cover an area of 66,000 hectares, where four groups of industries will be prioritized for development – port & logistics services; international finance services; and high-end tourism with casino and hi-tech industries.

In April 2006, the Van Phong EZ was established, projected to become a general EZ with the international transshipment port as the nucleus.

In the next four years, Van Phong EZ attracted 150 investment projects with the total investment capital of $14 billion, including mammoth projects such as the $4.8 billion Nam Van Phong petrochemistry complex, the $3.8 billion Van Phong thermopower plant 1 and the transshipment port project registered by Vinalines.

In October 2009, the Van Phong transshipment port project kicked off. However, it later came to a standstill for many reasons before the investment license of the project was revoked in June 2013.

The other projects, including the petrochemistry complex and thermopower plant, have  not been implemented.

Under the plan approved by PM Nguyen Xuan Phuc in August 2017, Bac Van Phong will cover an area of 66,000 hectares, where four groups of industries will be prioritized for development – port & logistics services; international finance services; and high-end tourism with casino and hi-tech industries.

On August 17, 2017, Le Duc Vinh, chair of Khanh Hoa province, agreed in principle to allow the US-based consultancy firm Boston to draw up the overall Bac Van Phong SEZ development plan. 

It is estimated that the State will be able to collect $1.2 billion in tax and fee from the SEZ a year, and $1 billion from land. The enterprises in the SEZ are expected to create an added value of $10 billion in 2017-2030.

Mai Thanh / vietnamnet